


Reckless

by charliechick117



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliechick117/pseuds/charliechick117
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dis always called Kili reckless.  Somewhere between almost breaking his leg and running away on a quest, it became an endearment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reckless

**Author's Note:**

> http://charliechick117.tumblr.com/post/70745723268/inja-y-ddraig-okay-have-a-rant-about-kilis
> 
> That is where this all started.
> 
> Recently discovered that the runestone means "return to me" not "reckless" but it all works in this fic regardless?

Ever since he was born, Dis knew that her younger son was reckless.  He was completely still in the womb, moving so little that Dis was worried a dead little baby would be born.  Instead, she got Kili.  Fili was overjoyed at having a little brother and would hardly let Kili out of his sight.  That would prove to be the one thing that saved Kili many times.

When Fili was a babe, he was content to sit on warm furs and play with his toys.  Kili was nothing like that.  As soon as he could crawl, Kili was getting into  _everything_ , from the stove to the cabinets, Kili left no corner of their home unnoticed.  Dis got him a little play pen, hoping it would keep him safe, but he soon out-grew it and was escaping it to run all over the house.  It wasn't uncommon for Thorin to visit and see Dis in her favorite armchair, eyes closed, and her sons running all through the house, squealing at the top of their lungs.

Along with Kili's over abundance of energy came an incredible amount of imagination.  Dis would walk into the kitchen and see Kili climbing the cabinets, claiming that it was the mountain of Erebor and he was the dragon while Fili was the dwarves.  Then, inevitably, Kili would fall from the cabinets and hurt himself.

This reckless behavior only got worse as time went on.  Dis stopped panicking when Fili would come home with Kili over his shoulder.  Fili would protect his little brother.  That didn't mean that she had to  _like_ it.

"What happened this time?" she asked as Kili fell onto a chair, wincing, hand tight on his bicep.

"Someone insulted Uncle," Fili explained, grabbing a damp rag.

Dis sighed.  If there was one thing that Kili got reckless for, it was to defend Thorin.  She took the rag from Fili and gently pried Kili's hand from his arm.  The gash wasn't that deep, but it was long.  Dis pressed the rag to the cut hard.  Kili winced.

"You will have a scar," she said.

Kili's eyes lit up and Fili snorted.

"That is not a good thing," she said, pressing harder.  "My reckless son."

"I am  _not_ reckless!" Kili protested.

Dis only smiled, kissed his forehead, and sent her sons to bed.

It only got worse.

Thorin and Dwalin had begun teaching her sons how to fight and she wanted to protest, but if her boys were going to be reckless, then they needed to at least be able to protect themselves.  Thorin began dropping hints about taking back Erebor and took the boys out for "hunting trips" which was some code for "men doing manly things out in the wild for no reason" and Dis was left in her empty house wondering if this was the day Kili was too reckless and his body was dragged home.

By the grace of Mahal, that never happened.

Though it got close.  Broken limbs, concussions, burns, cuts, stabs, Dis had seen everything.  She'd seen Kili walk through the door, practically dragged by Fili, pale with blood-loss.  She'd seen Kili limp home, face green with the pain of a broken leg.  She'd seen Fili carrying his unconscious brother over his back.  Each time, Dis would tend to him, tuck him gently into bed, kiss his forehead, and call him reckless.  He would smile softly and whisper that he would always come home.

Somewhere between climbing cabinets and playing with swords, it became an endearment.

When Thorin finally announced that he was, indeed, planning a masterful quest to take back Erebor, Dis didn't even put up a fight.  Fili was the heir, he was expected to go.  And where Fili went, Kili was sure to follow.

They were talking excitedly about the quest, about the dragon and the gold.  They had no idea what was going to happen.  They didn't know the dangers that could fall on them, or the battles they would see as they went, or how  _big_ and  _dangerous_ the dragon was.

"Please be careful boys," Dis said.

"We will!" Fili promised.

"I'm not worried about you, dearheart," Dis said with a smile.  "I'm worried about your reckless brother."

Kili looked up at Dis with a beaming smile.  "I always come back to you."

"I know, little one," Dis ran a hand through his hair.

The next morning, they left.  Fili was helping Thorin plan their route and Dis came up to Kili.  He looked so grown up, quiver over his shoulder and sword on his hip.  His hair was pulled back and he looked like the prince he really was.  He smiled and pulled her into a crushing hug.

"It's gonna be okay," he said into her hair.  "We're going to take back the mountain and you can come back home."

"This is for you," Dis pulled back, holding out a small stone in her hand.

Kili looked at it curiously and lifted it.  "What is it?"

"It's a talisman," she said.  "Return to me, my reckless child."

Kili gave a cheeky grin and tucked the talisman into his pocket.  "I always come back to you."

* * *

It was cold and dark and Kili knew he was dying.  Fili, his perfect, golden, beautiful big brother, had already fallen.  Thorin was behind them, protected on the steps of the greatest dwarf kingdom of this age.  A kingdom that Kili had fought to reclaim.  He was content, even riddled with arrows and run through with swords a fair few times.  He shifted, preparing for death, and his hand ran over something smooth and round.

The talisman!

Suddenly Kili didn't want to die.  He couldn't.  He had to go home.  He had to go back to his mother.  He couldn't die out here like this!  He had a promise to keep.  No matter how hard things got or how badly he was hurt, he always came home.  He would come home and feel his mother's tender hands and hear her soothing voice and she would cuff him lightly, calling him reckless, and he would smile because he had come home to her.

All the warmth was leaving him, the pain fading away and his vision blacking.  With his last store of energy, he clutched the talisman and brought it to his chest.  Tears ran down his cheeks and he closed his eyes.

_I'm sorry, Mother._

 


End file.
